Token usage for Terra and Luna surges up to 13.8x during OpenAI GPT-5.6 discount period

As a result of OpenAI's large-scale discount policy for its new models Terra and Luna from July 27 to August 14, token usage during that period surged explosively. Daily token usage for Terra increased 5.6x, while Luna surged 13.8x. In contrast, the Sol model, which was not eligible for the discount, saw only a marginal increase of 1.1x.

Erosion of Competitor Market Share

During the discount period, OpenAI models' overall token market share rose from 7.1% to 12.4%. Approximately 75% of this increase was market share taken from other AI labs (competitors), rather than cannibalization among OpenAI's internal models. Notably, Anthropic's token usage declined during this period.

User Retention and Lasting Impact

Even after the discount ended, a significant number of users continued using OpenAI models. Of the more than 100,000 customers who used Terra or Luna during the discount period, approximately 32% maintained their usage levels afterward, and 18% recorded usage levels equal to or higher than those during the discount period. Daily Terra/Luna token volume after the discount ended was 1.38x the average during the discount period, indicating that the scale of retained users was much larger than the average user.

Response of the Sol Model

During the discount period, the Sol model remained virtually unchanged at an average of 79.1B tokens per day. However, when a 50% discount was applied to Sol itself on August 17, token usage surged immediately, replicating the same pattern seen with Terra/Luna.